The 10 Things I've Learned
by KiriNoKoe
Summary: A brief look at my time as the Wicked Witch. Elphaba reflects on her past from the safety of her home in Ix. Set after the end of the musical.


**Disclaimer: I do not own 'Wicked' the musical, or **the book** 'Wicked' by Gregory Maguire.  
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**The 10 Things I've Learned:**

A Brief Look at My Time as a Wicked Witch

Elphaba would always be thankful for her time as the wicked witch of the west. It had taught her many things about herself, about right and wrong, good and evil that she might not have learned had her path in life been more accepted. For example:

**First:** During that heart wrenching moment when she realized that she had cursed the monkeys, she learned the power of words, they cause pain if used carelessly, and they can't be taken back. She also learned to pity those who had scorned her in life, those who didn't realize that their gimmerie was their tongue and it was cursing everyone around them slowly.

**Second:** She learned that giving-in is never love. When Glinda asked her to apologize to the wizard Elphaba realized that, though she cared deeply for her best friend, her ONLY friend, to agree with Glinda and do the selfish thing would only help make Glinda herself more selfish in the end. Elphaba knew that, horrible as the decision was, leaving was the most helpful thing, the best thing she could do for all of Oz, even if Oz wouldn't ever know it.

**Third:** When alone and afraid in the world she learned that the more she thought about her predicament, the more she wanted to go back to Oz. The wizard needed her power, he would've taken her back.

Then she started directly helping the Animals, and she began to realize that, while all the "Thank You's" and "You're so good's" in Oz would never give Glinda peace of mind while Glinda knew that Glinda's own 'goodness' was because of the Animals' deaths and her own friends possible demise, one "Fhank 'ou bery much" or "This is awfully nice of you, Miss Witch" from a baby lion cub's heart could make Elphaba feel she was on the right track for months. How did she know? She had peace. Through gunfire and chases and midnight escapes, her heart felt RIGHT for the first time in her life as she learned to see things for what they really were. She understood that Glinda couldn't drop her set of vices and attributes and become Elphaba any more than Elphaba could drop hers and become popular, so forgiving Glinda, forgiving herself, Elphaba went on with life.

**Fourth:** As she watched maimed Animals hobble on, just glad to be alive and speaking, as she saw Animal children disfigured as some cruel Gale Force joke, she realized that beauty is, mostly, on the inside. She realized that Nessa's unhappiness was not because of Elphaba, milkweed, a wheelchair, or Boq. It was because of Nessa _herself_ spending all her time concerned with _herself_, so all she had was _herself_, in the end.

Elphaba saw now that their father had destroyed Nessa unintentionally. He obsessed on Nessa and taught her to obsess on herself. By slighting Elphaba he had done her a favor. And she was grateful now. She could forgive him too, finally.

**Fifth:** She learned that true love means doing what's best for someone else, even if it means leaving them engaged to your old best friend and pretending they are nothing more than an old acquaintance. True love, for a parent, sibling, friend, or lover, doesn't need to be loved in return, and it doesn't need it's love to be known to them, or by them. True love would rather be obscure, hated for doing what's good and right for someone else, than be loved for helping them unknowingly destroy themselves. Even if that 'person' was, at times, all of Oz.

**Sixth:** When the wizard told Elphaba she could be wonderful, and she almost agreed, she learned to never second guess what she knew to be good. It would only end in catastrophe. Wrong things are wrong, no matter why you do them, and no matter how much the tiara that goes with them glitters.

**Seventh:** From a point of retrospect, looking back to when Fiyero was taken away by the Gale Force, Elphaba realized that she learned that it's not right to let someone base their whole life on you. When they do, it can't help but fall apart. What would have happened to Fiyero if situations had been reversed?

She was human, she would fail, die, and have weak moments. What would he do then? When she fell, his world would fall...and she couldn't stand to see his world fall, even a little, everytime she made some stupid mistake. No, it was better to live for what is right and love those who are with you there. Because what is right never fails or dies, but as people we always will.

**Eighth:** She learned that when people are determined to hate you there is nothing you can do about it so you might as well go about your business (even if it's melting) quietly (unless you must scream for theatrical purposes). You can't fix hard headed or angry with a spell book or magic shoes. Leave them alone and go on with your life.

**Ninth:** She realized that people worth having in your life are ones who can forgive you (even if you accidentally turn them into a scarecrow) because it's the kind thing to do. She also knows now that she must acknowledge her mistakes in life, see them clearly, learn from them, and forgive herself for being only human. Mistakes are only evil if you persist in them. If you learn from them, then they are lessons. Perhaps being born green even falls into this category...

**And Tenth:** Elphaba realizes as she and Fiyero (now human again) lay twined together in safety that the things in life worth living for aren't things like all of Oz loving you, your family's approval, or even being beautiful. It's all in little things, one after another. Things like fireflies at night, a gentle kiss on the head, carefully talking together; taking and giving delicate pieces of your heart to someone you love and trust, making s'mores at three in the morning, helping little Animal children learn to read and write in the school they opened together in town, giving others real hope for a better life, AND most importantly, learning that hope itself doesn't mean living in the future of 'if only' and 'what if', it means doing what is REALLY good, here and now, and knowing without a shadow of a doubt that because it's right and for no other reason, in the end it will all turn out _for the better._

So, in short: It always ends 'Happily Ever After' when you live 'Happily Right Now'.

Elphaba Tiggular, House 12 Farmroad 235 Fielding, Ix

4 A.M Tuesday

Fiyero finished reading the words his wife had written a few hours ago. He never failed to be astonished by her train of thought. Only Elphaba could take being the outcast of Oz and manage to learn an entire life's worth of lessons from it. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone searching the downstairs of his house. He chuckled. It was cute when she started writing about herself in a third person narrative, and even cuter when she couldn't find the said narrative.

"Yero, have you seen my papers?" He shoved what he'd been reading quickly back into the notebook that Elphaba carried everywhere and replied innocently. "What do they look like?" But, before turning to make his way downstairs to join his wife in her search, he flipped the notebook open once more and made a small note at the bottom:

Elphaba also learned that it's possible to be beautiful AND green.

Yero

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><p>So, what did you think? I haven't written fanfiction in awhile, so I wasn't sure how it would turn out. Thanks for reading.<p>

Kiri


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